This invention relates to a silencer for motor vehicle internal combustion engines, particularly suitable for vehicles in which the silencer and fuel tank or feed circuit elements are connected to the vehicle rear floor in such a manner as to cause mutual interference on impact.
In this respect, with such an arrangement if the vehicle suffers a rear impact at a certain speed the silencer can be struck by the sheet metal of the tail end and floor as they deform.
If the impact energy is high, the rigidity of the silencer structure means that, as only a minimum part of the energy is dissipated in deforming the tail and floor, the silencer moves rigidly and practically underformed against the most inner region of the floor, aided by the considerable yieldability of the exhaust pipers upstream of the silencer.
The silencer can therefore strike and considerably deform the most inner structure of the floor, and strike the fuel tank causing deformation and possible fracture of its walls or of the connections to the fuel inlet and outlet pipes, with the danger of fuel leakage.
The object of the present invention is to provide a silencer which on impact cannot rigidly strike the floor inner structure or fuel tank, and in fact is able to contribute to impact energy dissipation, even if only partially.